Chapter 347: The Discarded Fragment of Logic.
Chapter 347: The Discarded Fragment of Logic.
“I can understand your denial of reality, but it is time to return to it.”
“Gwaaaaaah.”
Uwaaaaaah.
“Beyond that example, I have also discovered that the wishes cursing you have borne fruit by twisting causality. However, there were so many individuals harboring such desires that we reached a point where we could not specify exactly whose they were.”
“Gwaaa… wait, that was that bastard’s fault too?”
In the midst of letting out a scream composed of despair for my entire life, an interesting fact drifted into my ears, causing me to speak in human tongue once more.
“The phenomenon of overturning all causality is not a common occurrence. Though it is a bit ironic for me to be the one saying that.”
It certainly was strange coming from Macbeth.
For the very person capable of executing such a feat to say that.
Regardless, Macbeth’s words forced me to admit in my heart what I had been trying so hard to deny: the theory that the tentacles consume wishes was likely the truth.
“So, how did you find out the tentacles eat wishes?”
“While you were poking around everywhere complaining about your bad luck, Lee Ha-ram, I was personally intrigued and had been recording levels with reality and causality manipulation detectors. Unfortunately, it was only after the Public Enemy Designation was issued that I obtained results showing the data had exceeded anomalous levels, reshaping the world to the degree of an Otherworld Erosion. After that, The Council joined forces to back-calculate that data alongside the records from the Geneva Branch.”
So, while I was running around trying to find the culprit, Macbeth was conducting a rational investigation.
And because he had that data, he was able to reach the answer so quickly.
As for proving the problem, they could manage somehow with various magics.
Through psychometry or postcognition, they could even find out if I really said those things.
“Then, how did you figure out the tentacles were cherry-picking the wishes?”
“Once it was confirmed that not every wish was being granted, The Council members locked themselves in a back room and spent all day making wishes to serve as a control group, hoping to see if there were specific conditions for fulfillment.”
“....”
Are you people idiots?
No, I was wondering why these guys had sequestered themselves, and that was the reason?
I understand the passion for gathering data, but no matter how I look at it, that’s just moronic.
“You look as though you find our seclusion strange. I think so as well. However, for various reasons, it was the most rational choice.”
“....”
“To prevent any improper wishes from manifesting, we instructed the entire Geneva Branch to carry on with their daily lives and controlled information to prevent rumors from spreading if someone happened to have a wish granted. We also established safeguards among The Council members to monitor what each other was wishing for, ensuring no one made any deviant requests. As a result, we were able to determine roughly what kind of wishes the tentacles cherry-pick. By fulfilling certain wishes, we were able to weaken the tentacles.”
“Hm? Wait. That stupid plan actually worked?”
“Did I not just say it was the most rational choice?”
…No, no matter how I think about it, it sounds stupid from the start.
Even if the plan was foolish, I can’t really say anything since it was successful in the end.
“First, regarding the results of the tentacles’ cherry-picking. We confirmed that while the tentacles do not discriminate based on the person, they do have a specific direction.”
Macbeth paused for effect.
But I could already guess roughly what he was going to say.
“Wishes that can prolong or worsen this situation. The moment someone conceives such a thought, the tentacles manifest it, gradually binding the people inside.”
Just as I thought.
This place is a hunting ground for a wish-granting tentacle.
If such an entity possessed intelligence and will and could cherry-pick wishes, those are exactly the options it would choose.
“Accordingly, we drafted and executed a plan to exploit that phenomenon. Something that could not be achieved by the power of The Council alone. Wishes in the ‘Gray Zone’ that would benefit both sides.”
Having said that, Macbeth began to list the details one by one.
“That those within may lead their daily lives.”
“That the flawed containment may become even firmer.”
“That interest in the Public Enemy may fade away.”
Hmm.
Certainly, those are wishes that benefit both humans and the tentacles.
The accumulation of such things resulted in these strange phenomena.
“There are many others, but the important fact is that by layering these things, we weakened the Public Enemy and targeted the foe. As long as cherry-picking is possible, the tentacles would simply ignore everyone wishing for the Public Enemy’s death. But if only those specific options keep coming up, the tentacles will choose the one that is even slightly more advantageous to itself.”
Macbeth let out a hearty laugh.
“It is fortunate the tentacles are so naive. This struggle is no different from chess. Each side puts forth a move, accumulates advantages, and eventually takes the King. To lose sight of the grand game because one is blinded by the pawn right in front of them…”
Macbeth made a suspicious gesture in the air.
As if a chessboard had suddenly appeared before his eyes.
Setting aside Macbeth’s suspicious behavior, many things now made sense.
Why the Public Enemy wasn’t able to do anything properly despite its status.
The anomalies in the Geneva Branch.
It was all the result of the Public Enemy being pitifully fleeced by these research and logic-obsessed freaks called mages.
“Then, why did The Council kids, who were doing so well, try to capture me?”
It seemed like they would have done fine whether I was there or not.
“They wanted to minimize variables. Did you see them shrouded in shadows? That is a high-level Cognitive Distortion magic designed to prevent the tentacles from eating their wishes and creating variables. In a situation where those who know the truth are aiming for checkmate while staying hidden, they wanted to exclude the massive irregular known as Lee Ha-ram. However, it’s not that The Council members planned it that way from the start….”
Macbeth continued his fluent explanation but paused for a moment in thought.
Since it was already a struggle for me just to keep up with the situation, I waited silently for him to speak.
“I see. I haven’t explained the terminals yet.”
Macbeth slowly turned his head, looked at the small tentacle playing ball with Si-hyun, and spoke.
“That tentacle is an external terminal of the Main Body, the Public Enemy. By being near it, the entity can consume wishes more precisely and grant them more precisely.”
“Granting wishes precisely?”
“Even if it grants wishes, the tentacle is not omnipotent. As I explained, it is a complex special ability based on causality and Reality Manipulation. I do not know why it has such an irrational structure where it possesses such vast power but can only realize it through the wishes of others, but it is nothing new for the enemies in stories to possess illogical powers.”
That was true.
If it gained power by eating wishes, why bother handling things so complicatedly?
It could just eat wishes and crush everything with raw strength.
However, it wasn’t once or twice that the enemies of stories possessed such strange, irrational powers. Powers that were extremely contrived, like this one, were common in a Hero’s tale.
That was likely because the source of this phenomenon was ‘those bastards at the end.’
“At any rate, the Main Body, located somewhere we cannot find, emits power using the terminals. We have already confirmed that near a terminal, it can filter wishes more precisely and trigger them more precisely and maliciously.”
At the same time, a smile played on Macbeth’s lips.
“In other words, we can deliver a checkmate to the Main Body through the terminal. To the King who sits alone, away from the board, merely watching.”
So, in the end, they were using the terminal because they couldn’t find the Main Body.
I understood why The Council was so desperate to capture the terminal.
They probably layered wishes through the terminal to weaken that tentacle.
However, because the terminal’s lifespan was short and it was rebellious, they must have been pushed back in the game of wits against the Main Body.
But one question came to mind.
“How did the assumption that there are tentacles friendly to humans even come about?”
“Through experiments, we confirmed that the terminals are independent entities that behave differently from the Main Body. Also, the first terminal we encountered was friendly toward us. Through it, we were able to accumulate various wishes.”
Something about his words sounded suspicious.
“Wait a minute, The Council members had a friendly tentacle too? Then why did they….”
“Is it not obvious? You should be able to realize it immediately, Lee Ha-ram.”
…Don’t tell me, these bastards.
Did they do what they always do?
“Even if it was friendly, it was still The Enemy. I judged it so at the time as well.”
Macbeth’s words supported my suspicion.
I see, that was it.
These guys wrecked the friendly tentacle.
It wasn’t that the tentacles weren’t friendly; the mages made the terminal tentacles hostile.
If there was some sort of connection between the terminals, they would have grasped the situation immediately.
And so, the tentacle terminals became rebellious.
Turning a friendly entity into a neutral one.
The mages’ fault.
However, I couldn’t really say anything about it.
I would have done the same if I had encountered a tentacle for the first time.
The fact that this tentacle still remained was thanks to my disciples and Un-ho, not because I was any different from the mages.
Sigh.
After letting out a sigh lamenting our Original Sin, I spoke again.
“Why are the terminal tentacles friendly?”
“We could not discover that. Communication was impossible.”
Ah, I see.
Anyway, this headache of a situation started with The Council and ended with The Council.
“That is enough of an explanation regarding the terminals, but we kept our eyes on them and continued our capture attempts. Even if they were rebellious and only lived for half a day, a terminal is still a terminal. They were useful in the game of wits.”
Cold words. Words that viewed a living terminal as a tool, without a shred of affection.
I agreed with him, but Si-hyun or A-bin would have been deeply shocked if they had heard.
“While using the terminals in that manner, an accident occurred. A mage, unaware that The Enemy consumes wishes, came into contact with it and happened to conceive a single wish.”
Ah, come to think of it, this was also part of the story about why The Council was trying to lock me up.
Macbeth was in the middle of explaining that.
“The content of that wish was: ‘Why is The Council so intent on capturing this? I don’t get it. Well, since they’re the Mage Council, I’m sure they’ll handle it just fine on their own.’ It was an extremely ordinary thought.”
“…Crazy.”
I realized it the moment I heard it.
It even grants wishes like that?
“It is a trivial wish, is it not? However, he happened to harbor that wish while in contact with the terminal, and a large-scale disaster occurred.”
Mental Contamination.
I’m sure The Council will handle it just fine.
That damn ‘handle it.’
“Originally, there was a plan prepared for when you and the Management Bureau entered… but the wish was fulfilled quite maliciously, and The Council members began to run rampant.”
Sigh.
So that’s how it happened.
The goal of defeating the Public Enemy hadn’t changed.
However, their minds had been twisted to believe that only they could do it.
Secretism was part of the problem, but that was definitely an accident.
Based on what I’d heard so far, I wondered why it was a Public Enemy.
But I realized once again that a Public Enemy is a Public Enemy.
A momentary accident almost overturned everything.
If the wish that mage harbored had been even slightly more twisted…
An existence that grants wishes mercilessly is truly terrifying.
“By the way, such widespread Mental Contamination occurred, so how do you still remember it, Commander Macbeth?”
If even The Council members were caught up in it, it seemed truly hopeless.
“That is why The Council members and I act separately. I never felt the need to mention it, but the Confidential Protocol engraved in my mind is my own special creation. All information I possess is recorded in multiple layers, and unless it is a large-scale manipulation that alters more than a majority, the security is designed to maintain it perfectly.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“Hmm. Let me put it simply. To me, memory exists not as one, but as many. And the moment it is attacked and altered, as long as that attack does not affect more than a majority, the information remains intact.”
Ah… so, assuming he has nine brains, even if a mental attack comes in, as long as it doesn’t affect five or more at once, he can ignore it?
“…What is that? Give me that procedure too.”
It sounds incredibly convenient.
“Not all technologies have only advantages; there are disadvantages as well. This is also why this protocol was only applied to me. If the brain’s calculation speed is insufficient or if it cannot withstand a momentary overload, there is a possibility of memory loss, short-term cognitive failure, early-onset dementia, or structural collapse. Especially in your case, Lee Ha-ram, your thoughts might suddenly grind to a halt for an extremely short period. I have no such side effects, and even if they occurred, my specialty is not close-quarters combat, so I can afford to risk them. But you are different, are you not?”
Is that so?
So, it means there are multiple Lee Ha-rams in my brain, and they’re always having a majority-rule debate… Hmm.
The moment I thought of that.
I thought of the self-proclaimed Lee Ha-rams who were squatting illegally inside me.
A meeting with those guys every second.
The moment I imagined that, I saw an ending where my head exploded.
“…You’re right.”
This wasn’t it.
It felt like Macbeth wasn’t referring to the Lee Ha-rams inside me, but was just politely informing me that I’m a blockhead. Still, I understood that it was a protocol impossible for an ordinary person to utilize.
It was a shame, but it couldn't be helped.
Then, is it all over?
Thinking so, I relaxed as the long tea time came to an end. Just as I was about to stretch my back and lean against the chair…
Wait, it felt like something was missing.
Suddenly, a sense of dissonance brushed past my mind.
It was unlikely Macbeth had forgotten this, especially since he had just asserted that such a thing didn't exist.
“Ah, but I have one last thing I’m curious about….”
To resolve that dissonance, I prepared to ask my final question.
“What is it?”
At my words, Macbeth looked at me with an expression that hovered somewhere between a smile and a blank stare.
“I understand everything else. Why you tried to seal me, the identity of the tentacles, the reason this phenomenon occurred. But I discovered one anomaly that can’t be explained by those things.”
“Ho. What is it? A phenomenon we failed to notice… how interesting.”
At my long-winded lead-in, Macbeth’s neutral expression tilted slightly more toward the positive.
“No, it’s nothing major. It’s just that whenever I try to get close to people, they freeze up in their actions or speech, saying I’m an outsider. Ah, was this also something The Council did to keep secrets?”
That would make sense, I thought, nodding at my own answer. Just as I was about to gulp down the remaining Liquid X in my teacup…
“....”
A chilling cold.
It seized me.
Startled, I looked up.
“....”
I met Macbeth’s gaze, as he stared at me with a face that was almost entirely expressionless.
Surprised by that, I also froze, waiting for Macbeth’s next words.
I must have waited for about five seconds.
But to me, it felt like an eternity.
“…I am not quite sure what you are talking about. Is it not just your imagination?”
Macbeth’s words felt as if he were breathing frost directly from his mouth.
That was how chilly and cold they were.
Just like the others.
At that, my body began to tremble.
It wasn’t that the people exhibiting this phenomenon were actually emitting cold air, but the chill contained in those words lashed my body more cruelly than the cold of Siberia.
I wanted to say it.
That right now, you, Macbeth, are falling into that very phenomenon.
That right now, there is still a piece of the puzzle that hasn't been revealed.
Even though the giant jigsaw puzzle of the Public Enemy had been completed.
Even though the one absolute path to end this phenomenon had been finished.
There was still a discarded phenomenon that no one looked at, and from which everyone turned their gaze.
But I…
“Ah, I think I was mistaken. Sorry.”
In the end, I couldn't say it and glossed over my words.
“I see. Then rest well until the operation begins.”
The moment I finished speaking, Macbeth erased the chill surrounding him and spoke with his usual smile.
As if nothing had happened.
If I pointed out that phenomenon, he might realize it.
It might lead to a breakthrough.
But I kept my mouth shut.
It wasn't that I had a logical reason for not saying it.
It was simple intuition.
It was telling me that I must not point out that phenomenon.
That in that phenomenon, there remained a deep abyss that everyone had missed.
The reverse side of the Public Enemy, where all information had supposedly been revealed.
The remaining mystery of the Public Enemy that no one else had noticed.
Only I perceived it.
I suppose that makes it my story’s enemy.
I couldn't tell exactly what that phenomenon meant or what it was.
But it was likely something only I could deal with.
Thinking so, I hid the last puzzle piece I held alone in my heart.